Aker Solutions, Sevan to vie for Goliat job

OSLO, May 19 (Reuters) - Norwegian oilfield services groups Sevan Marine (SEVAN.OL: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Aker Solutions (AKSO.OL: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will compete to design a floating production system for the Goliat oilfield in Arctic waters off Norway, operator Eni said.

If it goes ahead, Goliat could become the second petroleum development in the Barents Sea after StatoilHydro's Snoehvit gas field which came on stream last year.

Italian energy group Eni (ENI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said the front-end engineering and design competition, which involves designing a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) system, would be completed by early autumn.

"During this design competition, both Aker Solutions and Sevan will further mature their proposed FPSO concepts for the selected Goliat development solution," Eni's Norwegian subsidiary Eni Norge AS said in a statement.

The Goliat field partners expect to announce a choice of a design in the fourth quarter of 2008, Eni said.

Eni is operator and has a 65 percent interest in the field in the Barents Sea off Norway's far-northern coast. Its partners are StatoilHydro (STL.OL: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) with 20 percent and Det norske oljeselskap (DETNOR.OL: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) with 15 percent.

"It is important for us to have come this far even if we have not got a final contract," Sevan Marine's Chief Executive Jan Erik Tveteraas told Reuters. "It means a lot to us to enter phase 2."

The companies gave no financial details.